My Rega RB250 does not have a VTA adjustment and the aftermarket Pete Riggle VTAF won't work on my Nottingham/Rega combo (as advised by Pete R himself). There may be other options out there, but I haven't investigated them. I thought I read somewhere that Fremer doesn't think it's critical to have proper(?) or perfect VTA, yet says that the Ortofon 2M Black is sensitive to it. Since this is the cartridge I use I was kinda disappointed that the VTAF wasn't compatible for my setup.
Anyway, a few days ago I looked over at my 2 other TT's (both older Revolvers/Rebel and Red) and it dawned on me that the mats provided on them are substantially thinner that the 1/4" thick foam mat on the Nottingham table. The mats on the Revolvers are "felt" mats and about half the thickness, if I measured properly. So I decided to run my own little experiment and played several 180g/200g pressings with the regular NA mat and then the thinner felt mat. I did this several times over the course of a few days and have noticed some changes.
With the THIN mat I observed that the bass was less pronounced and full-bodied. It did seem to have tightened it up though. The treble was clearer with more nuances of the music becoming evident. I don't know if the change in the bass resulted in the treble being clearer by default, or if the treble was truly improved on its own with the thinner mat. A visual check clearly shows the thinner mat to drop the forward section of the cartridge lower than the back. Have I thereby realized a better rake angle? I don't have the tools to measure that aspect.
The bottom line is that by using the thinner mat with 180g/200g pressings the music seems more "accurate", albeit at a slight loss of warmth. And that's ok as I want accuracy first and foremost.
I suppose I could run this same little experiment for standard pressings, but since the arm/cartridge was set up with the standard NA foam mat, I think it may be best to leave it. Thoughts?
I would love to hear your thoughts on my little experiment and where I've gone wrong or better yet, what I did right.
Anyway, a few days ago I looked over at my 2 other TT's (both older Revolvers/Rebel and Red) and it dawned on me that the mats provided on them are substantially thinner that the 1/4" thick foam mat on the Nottingham table. The mats on the Revolvers are "felt" mats and about half the thickness, if I measured properly. So I decided to run my own little experiment and played several 180g/200g pressings with the regular NA mat and then the thinner felt mat. I did this several times over the course of a few days and have noticed some changes.
With the THIN mat I observed that the bass was less pronounced and full-bodied. It did seem to have tightened it up though. The treble was clearer with more nuances of the music becoming evident. I don't know if the change in the bass resulted in the treble being clearer by default, or if the treble was truly improved on its own with the thinner mat. A visual check clearly shows the thinner mat to drop the forward section of the cartridge lower than the back. Have I thereby realized a better rake angle? I don't have the tools to measure that aspect.
The bottom line is that by using the thinner mat with 180g/200g pressings the music seems more "accurate", albeit at a slight loss of warmth. And that's ok as I want accuracy first and foremost.
I suppose I could run this same little experiment for standard pressings, but since the arm/cartridge was set up with the standard NA foam mat, I think it may be best to leave it. Thoughts?
I would love to hear your thoughts on my little experiment and where I've gone wrong or better yet, what I did right.
